n

nTransator: Ekdud

nProofreader: coyotte508

nTL Check: KobatoChanDaisuki

nChapter 80 – Racial War (3)

nKururururu

nMichael clenched his teeth as he received the messages and carrier pigeons that were flowing in madly from all around.

n“Is there a possibility that you killing that… Has some relationship with the reason why the parasites of Ouroboros have gone crazy?”

nThere was chaos going on the Roots above.

nSince they said that a huge amount of parasites that could be clearly seen from below were crawling out of the body of Ouroboros and marching down.

nBillions of them when they weren’t even weak.

nAnd there was only one reason why the Ouroboros who had been quiet for 20 years was like that.

nHansoo nodded at those words.

n‘I wondered where he went… It seems like he went to connect to Ouroboros.’

nActually the situation which worried him wasn’t the parasites but rather him just bringing down the Snake.

nSince then it will become so dangerous to the point where it wouldn’t even be comparable to the parasites.

n‘But since he isn’t doing so… It seems that it’ll take some time. Anyways, I don’t think I can do anything inside of it then.’

nAccording to his original plan, he was going to feed poison to the Ouroboros and slowly grind it up from the inside.

nBut there was no way the Clone will sit and watch him rampaging inside it.

nWhich meant that it was a full frontal battle.

n‘Time is important then.’

nThe longer it took for him to come down the better.

nThere was no way for him to know when he will come down usually but there was an amazing alternative method in front of him.

nThere weren’t many people with the trait Library who hadn’t gotten strong.

nIntelligence and information were the strongest weapon of all.

nSince there was a huge difference between knowing and not knowing the direction even for simple things.

nAnd the woman in front of him actually proved this.

n‘It’s been a while. Sofía Vargera.’

nHansoo laughed quietly in his mind.

nSofía Vargera.

nOne of the final 100 of the human race who had been running towards the Crystal in the distant past.

nOf course she was quite close with him too.

n‘Well. We can talk things out later.’

nHe needed intel at this moment.

nHansoo spoke towards Sofía.

n“How long do you think it’ll take? Until that thing comes down?”

n“What?!”

nMichael freaked out at those words.

nThere was no way that he asked about the parasites coming down.

nSince they could check with their own eyes.

nWhich meant that something else was coming down and there was only one other existence that could trouble this guy.

nFor the Ouroboros to come down when the parasites were dangerous enough.

nSofía squinted her eyes as she looked at Hansoo.

n‘…How did he know? That I would know?’

nExactly a few days. It wasn’t something like this.

nBut the danger she felt on the skin was increasing and if she calculated with this new sensation then something big will happen in 14 days or 16 days at the latest.

nSince there was no way that the parasites will take 14 days to come down so there’s only one other way.

nThe abnormal Ouroboros will be coming down.

n‘Oh god. Something big has happened.’

nSofía clenched her teeth.

nFor something like this to happen when keeping the seal alone was busy enough.

nHansoo looked towards Sofía and then asked again.

n“How long does it take? I need to know that in order to set up a plan properly.”

n“…”

nThe one who was actually in chaos from Hansoo’s attitude was Camille.

nSince Sofía was also known for being extremely bad-tempered.

n‘Uwaa…’

n“Two weeks.”

nBut Sofía replied obediently unlike Camille’s expectations.

nShe was too busy calculating what will happen once that thing came down.

n‘First contact the leader. Then…”

nHer mind was too occupied for her to have the will to squabble with him.

nBut the problem rose from a different location.

n“The Ouroboros is coming down in only 2 weeks?”

nMichael clenched his teeth.

nHe then made his decision instantly.

n‘Escape.’

nMichael then opened his mouth.

n“We’ll leave then. Since there won’t be much time.”

nCamille, who had been listening, shouted out in confusion.

n“What are you saying? We’ll all die if we don’t fight.”

nIf something like that came down then there won’t be a hole to escape.

nWhat was he thinking.

nMichael gazed at Camille and then spoke out.

n“If there wasn’t an escape route then probably. But that’s not the case.”

nSofía also frowned at Michael’s words.

nThis was why she hated the clansmen.

nSince they grouped up by themselves and backed off during important moments.

n“You crazy bastards. Are you all going to go over?”

nCamille frowned at those words.

nSince she finally understood what Michael’s words of not needing to fight meant.

nShe had forgotten from shock.

nThat there wasn’t only the Red Zone in the Other World.

n‘Damnit… The passage opens soon.’

nCamille looked towards the Trunk of the World Tree.

n………………………………………………

nThe Hecarim clan, one of the Six Pillars like the Lighthouse.

nJukma, the clan lord, looked at one of the giant trunks behind his main camp.

nThe Six Pillars weren’t something metaphorical.

nThe giant trunk of the world tree split up into six thick paths when it got close to the surface.

nThe six split up World Tree Stems dropped down horizontally until the land, split up into 12 roots and then continued to spread along the surface.

nAnd this was why they were Six Pillars and twelve base roots.

nBecause of this, the six pillars was the best place to give out nutritional fluids to everyone within the clan.

nSince it was the start of where the World Tree spread the nutritional fluid from.

nAnd only the strongest six clans could stay here because of this.

n‘Well. I don’t know why they don’t place it in a more comfortable location.’

nBut the foodline not being severed was one of the most important factors.

nJukma gazed contently at the giant trunk which fed the entire clan and then looked over at the lake in the distance behind the trunk.

nLake.

nA huge lake that was between the six huge trunks.

nIt wasn’t made of toxic waters either.

nBut then it also wasn’t made of nutritional fluids.

nThe people called this lake the .

nA man walked towards Jukma who was staring at the lake.

n“What shall we do?”

nAmil Stadan who acted as the spear of the Hecarim Clan, calmly asked as he heard the madly rushing news from the outside.

nIt had been 3 years since they had been here.

nBut there was not a single time where something like this had happened.

n‘… Billions of parasites huh.’

nIt wasn’t a number that made him think of a loss.

nThe number was definitely threatening but the path they could take to come down was limited to the body of Ouroboros and the strength of the Six Pillars, Twelve Roots and other clans was formidable as well.

nWhich meant that if the Six Pillars, Twelve Roots and higher clans were gathered then it would be possible to withstand it despite receiving large amounts of damage.

n‘If we group up that is.’

nJukma opened his mouth after finishing his thoughts.

n“We’ve enjoyed as much as we needed right?”

nAmil Stadan pondered for a moment and then nodded.

n1 year where he had crazily struggled to survive after coming to this world.

n1 year where he had madly ran to get stronger so he can go up.

n6 months of finally finding some leisure and enjoying this and that while watching others struggle.

nThough he had only rested for 6 months out of 3 years, he had no problem with this.

nResting for 6 months was a long time.

nJukma laughed as he spoke.

n“They all prepared quite a few artifacts right? In Orange.”

n“Correct.”

nTheir runes were currently Red.

nThe runes that came out from the World Tree Mountain Ranges were only Red.

nBut sometimes an Orange Artifact that they couldn’t even use dropped around the Branches.

n‘The Fairies are quite kind.’

nThough they can’t use it here, it will become much easier for them if they got a good artifact here for the next zone.

nSince a good weapon was the core of a strong battle power.

nJukma listened to Amil Stadan’s report of being ready and then laughed coldly as he spoke.

n“Then let’s go over. Slowly.”

nHe had fun as much as he should have.

nHe was pondering whether to go up but for a big event like this to happen.

nSuch an event was basically giving him the final push.

nThen Jukma looked over to the Lake, .

nThey couldn’t eat or drink it.

nThere was only one use for the lake.

nA passage to get to the next Zone.

n“Get ready. The remaining ones… Well they’ll do well on their own.”

n“Yes.”

nIn order to get out before this place got run over by the parasites they needed to hurry a little bit.

nJukma remembered something while making the plan and then spoke.

n“Oh yeah. I heard there was quite a special guy out of the newcomers this time around?”

nAt those words Jukma nodded to himself.

n“That is right.”

n“There’s quite a lot of fun guys out of the Koreans this time. Let’s take him. We can just give him runes and raise him.”

n“Understood.”

nAmil Stadan heard Jukma’s words and then started to send carrier pigeons and messages in all directions.

n…………………………………

nMichael opened his mouth as he looked towards the six trunks.

n“In two days the passage is going to open. Once the mirror opens then there’s no need for others of the Pillars to fight. They will probably leave first. Sorry but that’s the case for us as well.”

nGoing through the Mirror was very simple.

nOnce a month, the surface of the lake turned like a mirror.

nThey just needed to go through it then.

nIf they have the qualifications then they will disappear into it.

nIf they don’t then they will walk out from the spot whence they walked in from.

nOf course most of their clansmen, who were high level adventurers, had the qualifications.

nThey had been pushing it back until it now but then there’s no reason to not leave anymore.

n‘There’s no reason to get massacred in a fight where there’s nothing to gain.’

nSofía grinded her teeth at Michael’s words.

n“These bitches… Seriously. You guys are really heartless. Those who don’t have the qualifications cannot leave.”

nOf course all the other high-ranking adventurers including themselves will leave.

nBut then what will happen to the countless other adventurers left behind.

nIf strong people flooded out then the ones remaining below will just get massacred.

nMichael snorted at Sofía’s words.

n“What, then you want us to get killed here as well? I don’t know about the parasites but what are you going to do when the Ouroboros comes down? You damned bitch. I don’t know what you’re thinking but to us our clan is more important than everyone else in the world combined.”

nFighting with their life on the line for people they don’t know about.

nWords were easy to speak.

nBut could they actually do it?

nIt was human nature to feel sad for their own family getting hurt more than a distant war.

n‘I can’t give up.’

nAs Michael and Sofía’s argument grew, the one who was feeling troubled was actually Camille.

nCamille looked towards Hansoo after staring at the two for a while.

nHe had killed two of the four Calamities so far.

nWouldn’t he have a method of dealing with the Ouroboros as well?

n“Do you perhaps have a method of killing the Ouroboros?”

nMichael snorted at Camille’s words.

nHansoo had killed the Calamities by wrecking them from inside the body.

nBut for some reason the Ouroboros sent out all the parasites which acted as the inner defensive system.

nWhat did this mean?

n‘This means that it won’t let anyone come inside anymore.’

nAccording to his clansmen inspections, every hole in its body was being blocked by the scales on the body.

nThis meant that they have to kill it in a full frontal battle but a single swipe from that snake tail could smash apart the giant Root they were standing on.

nThough it did not have any special abilities like the Devouring and Vomiting Root but the size, hardness and mass of its body made it overwhelming.

nKilling that thing in a head on battle did not make any sense.

nNo, if nobody distracted the parasites to buy time then fighting it was impossible in the first place.

nHansoo nodded at those words.

n“It’s a bit hard alone.”

n“…?”

nEveryone made a surprised expression.

nThat meant that he could kill it if they helped.

nHansoo started to quickly calculate things within his head.

n‘Two weeks are a bit tight.’

nA beast that was getting controlled by somebody who had evil intentions and a beast that was faithful to its primitive instinct.

nThere was no need to say which was more dangerous.

nIt wasn’t that they were going to wait 2 weeks and killing it after it comes down.

nThey had to beat it before 2 weeks, before that thing was completely under control.

n‘It’s too hard to do it alone’

nIf he and the Seven Departed Souls combine their power and borrow the power of the artifact, it’d be doable to fight with the bastard drinking zealously the poison water.

n‘Not only Sofía, we call the six others as well. And while the six pillars and the other guys block the parasites, we climb to beat the Ouroboros.’

nOther people wouldn’t know but there was a way of contact between the Seven Departed Souls.

nDone thinking, Hansoo opened his mouth and explained his plan.

nAnd Michael, Sofía and everybody else froze after hearing the plan.

n‘… You want us to trust that kind of plan and not leave?’

nIf they miss the chance of two days later, they’re trapped here for a whole month.

nIf Hansoo fails to kill the Ouroboros, after two weeks of calm they’ll have no choice but to spend the remaining two weeks until the passage opens again with the Ouroboros raging around. (*PR: Edited this sentence heavily to make it clear)

nThere was not much to say about the result as well.

nNo. Even then, why would the other clans agree and help them.

n‘Damnit. What is he thinking. Is he mad?’

nMichael clenched his teeth inwardly.

nBut Sofía’s expression froze because of another reason.

n“Do you guys even know what we are doing?”

nThe people thought that those who were called the Seven Departed Souls were running around the branches for stronger or better artifacts.

nAnd they thought that this was the reason why they weren’t seen from the eyes of those around the Trunk or Roots.

nBut this was not correct.

nThe reason why they were staying around in this place for such a long time was not because of such petty reasons.

nAnd because of this the seven of them could not leave at the same time.

nHansoo quietly grasped onto Sofía’s hands from those words.

n“What…!”

nWhile Sofía was surprised, Hansoo wrote something down on Sofía’s hand.

n

n“…What are you?”

nThe thing that they were sealing.

nSofía’s expression froze from the word that no one should know other than the seven of them, the word which Hansoo had written down on her hand.

n